Trees help clean our drinking water.

In 1997, New York City spent $1.5 billion to preserve the forested watershed that supplies New York City’s drinking water by purchasing thousands of upstate acres of forested watershed. A filtration plant large enough to clean New York City’s water supply would have cost more than $6 billion dollars.
share Ecosystem Marketplace, 2006

Trees help us save energy.

Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30% and can save 20–50% in energy used for heating.
share U.S. Forest Service

The average Cincinnati community tree saves the average household $56 annually in cooling costs by reducing electricity use. More than 85,000 Cincinnati community trees save residents $4.8 million.

2011

Carefully positioned trees can reduce a household’s energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 25%. Computer models devised by the U.S. Department of Energy predict that the proper placement of only three trees can save an average household between $100 and $250 in energy costs annually.
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Trees and forests provide important species range. Many animals have a range of hundreds of square miles. The mountain lion of North America, for instance, has a range of nearly 400 square miles.
share National Geographic

Trees are a good investment of our public dollars

Every dollar spent on planting and caring for a community tree yields benefits that are two to five times that investment—benefits that include cleaner air, lower energy costs, improved water quality and storm water control and increased property values.
share U.S. Forest Service, 2011

A cost-benefit analysis of the Berkeley, California, tree canopy indicated that each camphor tree had an annual net benefit to the city and its residents of nearly $12,500, each shamel ash showed a $9,600 annual net benefit, and each London planetree had an annual net benefit of more than $8,700 per tree.
share 2005